Pumpkin Pie Melt and Pour Soap

While the day after Labor Day is not the official first day of fall, here in the PNW, it certainly feels like summer is over. Seasonal items are hitting the shelves, including the Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks (happy #PSL day!), and everything pumpkin flavored. I love the warm and comforting taste (and smell!) of pumpkin treats. These Pumpkin Pie Melt and Pour bars celebrate the arrival of the #PSL and pumpkin-spice-everything. Scented with Pumpkin Pie Candle and Soap Fragrance Oil, these bars look and smell like your favorite autumn dessert.

These bars are made with the creamy and hydrating Goat Milk Melt and Pour Soap Base. This base is great for dry skin, and has a neutral custard color. Ground pumpkin seeds give the bars a very mild amount of exfoliation. To learn more about various exfoliant options, click here. A small amount of ground cinnamon is used for a realistic pumpkin pie appearance. Some people have a sensitivity to using cinnamon (particularly cinnamon essential oil). If your skin is sensitive to cinnamon, feel free to leave it out.

Click here to add everything you need for this project to your Bramble Berry shopping cart!

ONE: Chop and melt 12 oz. of the Clear Melt and Pour Base, and 1 oz. of the Goat Milk Melt and Pour Base in the microwave using 20 second bursts. A combination of bases is used to give a rich brown color, while still being slightly opaque. Once melted, add shavings of the Shimmer Cappuccino Color Block and stir until they have melted and the soap is a rich brown color. If necessary, place the soap back into the microwave using 10 second bursts to reheat.

TWO: Pour the brown soap evenly into all 12 cavities of the mold. Each cavity will receive about 1 oz. of soap. If it helps, weigh the first pour and eyeball the rest. After pouring, spray each cavity with rubbing alcohol to disperse any bubbles. Set aside to cool and harden.

THREE: Chop and melt 40 oz. of Goat Milk Melt and Pour Base in the microwave using 30 second bursts. Once completely melted, add shavings of the Perfect Orange Color Block until you have reached a soft orange color. Keep in mind that because the base is white, the soap will never be bright orange. If you prefer a brighter orange color, you may consider using clear soap for this step. FOUR: Add 1 oz. of the Pumpkin Pie Candle and Soap Fragrance Oil and stir to combine. Then, 1 oz. of the Vanilla Color Stabilizer into the soap and stir to thoroughly combine. The Vanilla Color Stabilizer is used to prevent the Pumpkin Pie Candle and Soap Fragrance Oil from discoloring the soap. Learn more about vanilla color discoloration in this blog post. FIVE: Add three heaping tablespoons of ground pumpkin seeds and stir to combine and get rid of any large chunks. Then, add a few dashes of ground cinnamon. A little goes a long way; you want just enough so that you see a few speckles in the soap. If your skin is sensitive to cinnamon, feel free to leave this step out.SIX: Check the temperature of the orange soap. You want to make sure it is no hotter than 125 ° F. If it is too hot, the ground pumpkin seeds will not suspend and the soap may melt the dark brown layer below. Check to make sure the brown soap has cooled and developed a thick skin in order to support the orange soap. Spritz the brown layers with rubbing alcohol to help the orange soap stick, and gently pour the orange soap into each cavity. Spritz the soap with alcohol to disperse any bubbles.SEVEN: Immediately sprinkle the top of the soap with a fine dust of ground cinnamon. Allow to fully cool and harden, and enjoy! To avoid glycerin dew, wrap them immediately in plastic wrap, or another airtight packaging option.

Chop and melt 12 oz. of the Clear Melt and Pour Base, and 1 oz. of the Goat Milk Melt and Pour Base in the microwave using 20 second bursts. A combination of bases is used to give a rich brown color, while still being slightly opaque. Once melted, add shavings of the Shimmer Cappuccino Color Block and stir until they have melted and the soap is a rich brown color. If necessary, place the soap back into the microwave using 10 second bursts to reheat.

Pour the brown soap evenly into all 12 cavities of the mold. Each cavity will receive about 1 oz. of soap. If it helps, weigh the first pour and eyeball the rest. After pouring, spray each cavity with rubbing alcohol to disperse any bubbles. Set aside to cool and harden.

Chop and melt 40 oz. of Goat Milk Melt and Pour Base in the microwave using 30 second bursts. Once completely melted, add shavings of the Perfect Orange Color Block until you have reached a soft orange color. Keep in mind that because the base is white, the soap will never be bright orange. If you prefer a brighter orange color, you may consider using clear soap for this step.

Add 1 oz. of the Pumpkin Pie Candle and Soap Fragrance Oil and stir to combine. Then, 1 oz. of the Vanilla Color Stabilizer into the soap and stir to thoroughly combine. The Vanilla Color Stabilizer is used to prevent the Pumpkin Pie Candle and Soap Fragrance Oil from discoloring the soap. Learn more about vanilla color discoloration in this blog post.

Add three heaping tablespoons of ground pumpkin seeds and stir to combine and get rid of any large chunks. Then, add a few dashes of ground cinnamon. A little goes a long way; you want just enough so that you see a few speckles in the soap. If your skin is sensitive to cinnamon, feel free to leave this step out.

Check the temperature of the orange soap. You want to make sure it is no hotter than 125 ° F. If it is too hot, the ground pumpkin seeds will not suspend and the soap may melt the dark brown layer below. Check to make sure the brown soap has cooled and developed a thick skin in order to support the orange soap. Spritz the brown layers with rubbing alcohol to help the orange soap stick, and gently pour the orange soap into each cavity. Spritz the soap with alcohol to disperse any bubbles.

Immediately sprinkle the top of the soap with a fine dust of ground cinnamon. Allow to fully cool and harden, and enjoy! To avoid glycerin dew, wrap them immediately in plastic wrap, or another airtight packaging option.

HI
I made this recipe less orange for Christmas, I love them! I just started making soaps.
Two questions. The top is shiney the from the alcohol, should I just dab with a paper towel before I wrap and also, where my thumb was when I pushed out the bar from the mould, the cinnamon came off just on those spots, Can I sprinkle some more on those spots?
Thanks!!!!

The alcohol should evaporate off the top fairly quickly! Once it does the wetness will disappear. It will naturally have a shiny “skin” on top, which you can put wrapping over. Also, you can spritz the top with alcohol and add a bit more cinnamon to get it to stick. Then, cover with plastic wrap. 🙂

Hi, I just made this project, so fun!! Smells amazing. I do have a couple questions.

1. What order should I list the ingredients on a label, if the two different MP bases have very similar ingredient lists? I know it’s by quantity from largest to smallest, but with two different soap bases I don’t want to list everything twice. (Same question with the color blocks…)

2. What is in the vanilla color stabilizer, and how would I list it on a label?

I would recommend listing ingredients in both bases. I know it’s a lot to squeeze onto a label, but it is a bit easier than trying to figure out the order of each ingredient. So, you can list Goat Milk Melt and Pour Soap (ingredients), then Clear Melt and Pour Soap (ingredients). As for the Vanilla Color Stabilizer, it is considered a fragrance oil. Those ingredients are protected by trade secret laws and don’t need to be listed. So, you can say “Vanilla Stabilizer Fragrance” on the label, or something similar. 🙂

Newbie here just tried this recipe love the aroma, I’m not entirely sure what I’ve done but the Goats Milk M&P started hardening on me the moment I put the color block in. Any who I ploughed on mixing it until it hardened considerably and then I began to look up the various posts on what I could’ve possibly done wrong, (all I saw were CP soap) but nonetheless I went to teachsoap forum and there all that related were fragrance oils and the like (veered off topic for a bit lol. I then decided after rereading posts on M&P soaps to reheat on short bursts at the microwave and it went well for the most part, I added the rest of the ingredients and mixed and then poured into the mold. I noticed towards the end the same thing happened (it was hard and stringy). Is this common? Is there a way to prevent this? Thanks for your help, and I apologize in advance for my long post 🙂

The 40 oz on 20 second bursts with mixing in between for about 2 mins. The color block was shaved into small pieces and added about 127 degrees. To explain it better it developed a film over the top (like when you boil milk) and then hardened and became stringy. Thanks!

Thanks so much! That sounds just perfect. I think the soap was a bit cool when you added the color block, then the room temperature color block dropped the temperature a bit more. Melt and pour soap starts to solidify around 130F. If that’s the case, just pop it back in the microwave for another 10-15 seconds. That will melt the soap and color block together and make the texture a bit more fluid and workable. 🙂

Thanks for the tip! I did remelt it and add the rest of the ingredients but had the same film and stringyness appear. The instructions do say to add the Goats milk at 125 degrees, I didn’t have this issue with the Clear M&P. Maybe I’m a nervous nelly lol. The soap did turn out lovely for the most part and smells wonderful. Thanks again for the help, I look forward to trying again. 🙂

After you spritz that alcohol, are you moving the soap? When you spray alcohol on top of the soap it forms a bit of a film before evaporating. If the soap is shifted, that skin can wrinkle, causing that leathery appearance. If that’s the case, let the soap sit for 1-2 hours before moving it! That will give you a nice smooth top. 🙂

Absolutely! I would recommend making a small test batch with the Clear Melt and Pour. If the bases are two different brands, they can dry at different rates and separate. If so, you’ll want to use the same brand for both layers. A small test batch will let you know before making the full recipe. 🙂

I made this soap and it both smells and looks lovely, however I found the texture of the pumpkin seeds to be just too coarse. Next time I will use some ground nutmeg which I have used in a spiced cider soap I made in the past (scented with Brambleberry’s Apple Jack Peel – divine!)

Hi before I make the pumpkin pie melt and pour soap just wanted to ask – the very last step when you have poured in the top layer it doesn’t say to spritz with rubbing alcohol but just to put cinnamon on top. Do you not need to do the final spritz of rubbing alcohol to prevent bubbles on top and then add the cinnamon???

We recommend spritzing the top with alcohol to pop any bubbles, then sprinkling that cinnamon on. Looks like we forgot to add that to the steps – sorry about that! Thanks so much for catching it. We’ll update the post now. 🙂

This is my second batch of soap but the first one I made used our. The process was no problem and made some good soap (which I am almost out of). Anyhow, that took several weeks to cure. The question I have with this pumpkin pie soap is, how long should it cure? I plan on making it tomorrow and wanted to be sure since it is not lye based.

Our Liquid Orange Colorant makes a gorgeous orange hue! I would recommend starting off with just a drop or so and mixing into your soap – a little goes a long way. If you want the color a bit brighter, you can add a couple more drops. 🙂

Absolutely! A silicone loaf mold would work just fine for this recipe. In that case, you would pour all the brown soap in the bottom, let that harden and then pour all of the creamy orange soap on top.

This recipe calls for about 53 ounces of soap. I would recommend checking to see how much your mold holds, as it may be more or less than 53 ounces. If that’s the case, you can adjust the soap amounts to fit your mold. 🙂

Oh no, I’m sorry those layers separated! The good news is you can use a bit of melt and pour “glue” to help them stick together. To do so, melt a small amount of soap (1 ounce or so) in the microwave on 5 second bursts. Then, spread a small amount of the soap in between the layers and press them gently together. Let that sit cool and harden for 1-2 hours. That typically helps the soap stick together. 🙂

When spraying alcohol, you want to spray enough so that the first layer is covered, but not completely soaked. Also, make sure to spritz that right before you pour your second layer. If it is sprayed too early, the alcohol can evaporate and those layers can separate. Learn more about working with melt and pour layers in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oyh1Bf3Gxo

This is going to be my second attempt at making soap! I only tried it on a whim last week with stuff from a craft store and thoroughly enjoyed it (but was disappointed when I saw the ‘not so organic’ ingredients). I hope my customers will like them (adding them as a little ‘thank you’ for purchasing.) I am afraid of the cold soap making method (eeek lye!), and want to ease in slowly! Very excited to receive all of these ingredients to get started!!! Who knows, I may end up selling soap, too!

That’s so exciting! It’s amazing how fast the addiction to soapmaking sets in. 😉 Thanks so much for your order, and we can’t wait to see what you make next! If you like, you can share pictures of your creations on our Facebook wall. 🙂

You can definitely use the Cybilla fragrance if you like! That one is a discontinued scent, so I am unable to smell the two and tell you the difference. Both will give you an awesome pumpkin scent though. 🙂

[…] am still making soap and just finished this batch of Pumpkin Pie soap (recipe from Soap Queen) and shipped it to two customers yesterday as a small thank you surprise. I hope they love it! I am […]

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